Chronicle

(1) Lit. "who was held by Cyrus in the first place".

1. This is the last page of the double-page arrangement of the Chronicle. Hereafter the Chronicle appears on successive pages normally. In 'O', there are stubs of parchment sticking out of the spine, suggesting that pages were removed. This is the exact middle of the codex.

1. At this point, in mid-page in 'O', the column of Macedonian regnal years which is black up to this point suddenly turns red. This is clear evidence that the scribe copied the colours from his exemplar, and did not amend them. It also shows that the exemplar did indeed have 26 lines, because the colour change occurs at the page-break (as here) in such an exemplar, rather than in mid-page, as in 'O'. 2. This entry should be red, but is in fact black in 'O'.

(1) Diodorus 14.110.5.

(1) ΟΡΓΗΝ = 'anger'.

1. In 'O' this reads 'Ceraunos' in Roman letters.

(1) Hiberia: Only the Roman province of Hispania, as the remainder was still not under Roman control until 29 BC. (2) cf. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature entry for "Livius Andronicus" who is here intended; the facts are disputed, see the Loeb Remains of Old Latin II p.viii ff. Titus is the name of Livius historicus not of the Lucius Livius Andronicus, writer of tragedy and epic here referred to.

(1) The "Remains of Old Latin," vol. II (Loeb Library, 1982), says that Pacuvius was "[p. xvii] a son of the sister of the poet | [p. xviii] Ennius," with footnote e, attached to the word "sister," saying "So Pliny, XXXV, 19; son of Ennius's daughter, says Jerome wrongly" (p. xvii). Later, the text says: "His year of fame is stated by Jerome to have been 154 B.C." with footnote d, "Jerome, ad ann. 600 = 154" (p. xviii).

…(1) 'togatae'. (2) Salome. (3) The Third Servile War (Gladiators' War), instigated in 73 B.C. by Spartacus, an escaped slave and gladiator; the war ended in 71 B.C. (4) Not the peninsula as a whole, but the entire Roman province. This had been in revolt under Sertorius. (5) Venusia was on the borders of Apulia and Lucania; the date was 8 December 65 B.C.

(1) 58BC, in Macedonia. Gnaeus Plancius was quaestor of Macedonia.

(1) Literally "received the fasces." (2) Cf. Livy 28.11.4 (for 206 BC, not this 41 BC) "et bos in agro Romano locutus." (3) Prior to this page in 'O' the heading always reads 'Consuls'. Thereafter it is 'Romans'.

(1) Literally "among the Peligni." (2) The Falcidian Law,(Justinian, Digest of Roman Law, 35.2) by its first Article, conferred the power of disposing of an estate up to and including three-fourths of the same. English translation. Some paraphrase has been necessary: literally "Caius Falcidius, a Tribune of the People, proposed a law against anyone making a legacy in his Will, greater than would [still] leave a quarter [of the whole estate] to the heirs." It is followed in some manuscripts by a long and confused gloss, which adds the words "... if four or less." And then goes on, "If however there were more than four, the proportion was in this way: that part that Falcidius ordered (unless the father forbade it) and the other profitable legacies, and similar less-desirable items, were divided up equally in the same way as the same father bequeathed his property either to the children or to more distant relatives." (3) Cassius Dio 48.43.4, giving the date as 38 BC. Here one day, in 38 BC, oil suddenly started to gush out from the ground. This mysterious event was given the Latin name fons olei ("oil source", or "oil fountain"). This is the legend of S.Maria in Trastevere. A taberna meritoria was an upmarket tavern and lodging house.

(1) 'Hebdomades' is properly a 'group of seven' years rather than a week. The word 'weeks' is intended to be quaint or mystical, as note where it is initially explained by Leviticus 25:8 'numerabis quoque tibi septem ebdomades annorum id est septem septies quae simul faciunt quadraginta novem' — 'And you shall count seven weeks of years, seven times seven years, so that the time of the seven weeks of years shall be to you forty-nine years.' Jerome's 'id est' is not in the Heb (or RSV) but the phrase SHBX SHBTT SHNYM 'seven sabbaths of years' is clearly meant to be pointed in some way, and not just a way of saying something numerical like 'group of seven'. Even the Gk word ἙΒΔΟΜΑΣ is somewhat obscure [cf. Chantraine s.v. ἑπτα at end]. Finally, it is already traditional language in Jerome�s time and remains so: NJB, Lev. 25:8 'You will count seven weeks of years—seven...' [note their long dash = Jerome�s id est] and then Dan 9:24 'Seventy weeks are decreed...'. (2) The quotation marks represent a line of vertical squiggles against this paragraph in the left-hand margin in 'O'.

(1) Dio Cassius 51.21.8. The reference is to Alexander Helios (the 'sun') and Cleopatra Selene (the 'moon'). (2) This number is missing in 'O'. (3) This number is coloured red in 'O'.

(1) November 24, 29 AD. Note that paras b,c and d are merged in the Merton Ms.

(1) After this in the PL is the following entry, where the Merton ms. has a blank: Stephen is stoned: Saul is converted to Christ. (2) Another blank in the manuscript is filled in the PL with these two entries: James the brother of John the apostle, by the order of King Herod, is beheaded. — The apostle Peter thrown into prison by Herod, and having been bound with two chains, he is miraculously freed by an angel. (3) In the PL, but not in the Ms. this entry continues: because he had publicly prayed to God, so that, right away upon the death of Tiberius, he would see Gaius the lord of all. (4) 'Sacra' rendered as 'recognised religions'. (5) In the PL, not in the Ms. there follows: Peter the Apostle founded the Church at Antioch, and there securing his (episcopal) throne, he sat (reigning as bishop) for 25 years. (6) The PL adds: in the villa of Lucullus.

(1) In the Merton manuscript there is a space following. In the Patrologia Latina, there follows this entry: Matthew in Judaea is the first to write a gospel.

(1) The Patrologia Latina text has two extra entries at this point, which are not found in the 9th century Merton College manuscript No. 315, although there seems to be a space in the text at this point: — Around this time, Claudius drained the Fucine lake, which took 30,000 men working for 11 years without intermission. — Claudius constructed the port of Ostia, with two branches, as it were, projecting on the left and the right sides. (2) Another entry from the PL, not in the Merton Ms. follows, where there is a space in the page: The virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, is taken up to her son in heaven, as some write had been revealed to her. (3) The passover. (4) Another entry from the PL, not in the Merton Ms. follows, where there is a space in the page: Three suns appeared at the same time and immediately united in the same circle. (5) Another PL entry, but no space in the Ms.: Dionysius the Areopagite, once a distinguished philosopher, is famous. (6) Another PL entry follows, again with no space in the Ms.: Philip, the apostle of Christ to the people in Hierapolis, a city of Asia, while preaching the Gospel, is nailed to a cross and stoned to death. (7) The reference is to Acts 21:38, and the citation is slightly altered from: 'Are you not the Egyptian who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the assassins into the desert?'

(1) Late manuscripts insert after the word Persius "Volaterranus, the satirical poet,".

(1) Pontus Polemoniacus was added in 64 AD. M. Julius Cottius ruled the Cottian Alps as praefectus civitatium.

(1) Titus died on September 13, 81 AD at Aquae Cutiliae, where his father Vespasian had died two years earlier. The ides of September are the 12th.

(1) The Ludus Matutinus was a school for the training of bestiarii, "beast fighters." The Meta Sudans was a fountain built next to the Colosseum in the second half of the 1st century A.D. "The Mica Aurea was a little palace which the Emperor Domitian had built on Monte Caelio's west side across from his large emperial palace on the Palatin hill. It was located by the Via Triumphalis of ancient times, nowadays Via di San Gregorio, between the ancient roads, the Clivus Pulveratus (which does not exist today), and the Clivus Scauri, which today is called Clivio di Scauro. The latin name means "the little gold-beaming (house)", as "mica" means "a crumb, or a piece" or "a little room" and "aurea" means "golden" or "beaming like gold" and the little palace which was built as a private residence as opposed to the large official palace did have a golden roof."

(1) Vespillo, pl. vespillones.

(1) I.e. within the pomerium.

(1) Sextus Empiricus. (2) Oenomaus of Gadara. (3) I.e. for a constitution. (4) The other legislators.